Jordan B. Peterson: Canadian gender-neutral pronoun bill is a warning for Americans

'We have to draw a line in the sand'

University of Toronto Professor Jordan B. Peterson has made international headlines for publicly resisting the tyranny of enforced speech. There are two reasons he has stayed there. His courage, which has become more manifest as every day passes without a move of support from the academic community; and his entirely reasonable and compassionate defence of his position.

The charges of bigotry thrown at Peterson are so manifestly absurd that they do more to damage the zealots that revile him than anything Peterson says.

Enforced speech is not new on North American campuses. It began back in the 1980s with the acceptance of the terminology of political correctness. But as a doctor of psychology, the rubicon appeared to have been crossed when new terms were invented, seemingly by the day.

More people need to join Dr. Peterson’s cause, which is every free person’s. As Peterson notes:

‘Without free speech, we cannot explore our ever-transforming territories, orient ourselves, and get to the point. Without freedom of speech, we will not talk — and we will not think. And then we will have real conflict, with all of its horrors, instead of its abstracted equivalent.’